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84-786: The Studland and Godlingston Heaths NNR is located on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset . It borders Studland Bay on the south side of Poole Harbour , between the settlements of Swanage and Sandbanks . Extending to 631ha, it is owned and managed by the National Trust following the Bankes bequest of the Kingston Lacy estate. Studland & Godlingston Heath is designated as one of only 35 "spotlight reserves" in England by Natural England in

168-531: A 25 kilometres (16 mi) stretch of light steel netting called the Dover Barrage , which it was hoped would ensnare submerged submarines. After initial success, the Germans learned how to pass through the barrage, aided by the unreliability of British mines. On 31 January 1917, the Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare leading to dire Admiralty predictions that submarines would defeat Britain by November,

252-437: A lighthouse or warning bell to warn sailors. Victorian restoration work of the chapel found signs that a beacon may have adorned the roof. The present cross on the roof is Victorian. The town of Wareham retains its Saxon earth embankment wall and its churches have Saxon origins. One of these, St Martins-on-the-Walls, was built in 1030 and today contains traces of medieval and later wall paintings. The village of Corfe Castle

336-509: A protected World Heritage Site coastline. The ship had been damaged and was en route to Portland Harbour . The English Channel, despite being a busy shipping lane, remains in part a haven for wildlife. Atlantic oceanic species are more common in the westernmost parts of the channel, particularly to the west of Start Point, Devon , but can sometimes be found further east towards Dorset and the Isle of Wight. Seal sightings are becoming more common along

420-467: A time when earth and timber were the norm. This may have been due to the plentiful supply of good building stone on Purbeck. Sir John Bankes bought the castle in 1635 and was the owner during the English Civil War . His wife, Lady Mary Bankes , led the defence of the castle when it was twice besieged by Parliamentarian forces. The first siege, in 1643, was unsuccessful, but by 1645 Corfe was one of

504-459: Is Eocene clay (Barton Beds), including significant deposits of Purbeck Ball Clay . Where the land rises to the sea there are several parallel strata of Jurassic rocks, including Portland limestone and the Purbeck beds . The latter include Purbeck Marble , a particularly hard limestone that can be polished (though mineralogically, it is not marble ). A ridge of Cretaceous chalk runs along

588-835: Is Early Spider Orchid ( Ophrys sphegodes ), which in Britain, is most common on Purbeck. Nearly 50,000 flowering spikes were counted in 2009. Late April is the best time, and the largest population is usually in the field to the west of Dancing Ledge . Smaller numbers can be seen on a shorter walk in Durlston Country Park . This orchid is the logo of the Dorset Wildlife Trust . Cowslip meadows ( Primula veris and Primula deorum ) are at their best shortly afterwards and Durlston Country Park has several large ones. In early May, several woods have carpets of Wild Garlic ( Allium ursinum ). King's Wood and Studland Wood, both owned by

672-581: Is a peninsula in Dorset , England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well defined, with some medieval sources placing it at Flower's Barrow above Worbarrow Bay . John Hutchins , author of The History and Antiquities of

756-576: Is named after the castle that overlooks the village, commanding a strategic gap in the Purbeck Ridge. The present castle dates from after the Conquest of 1066 but may have replaced Saxon work, as the village was where Saxon King Edward the Martyr was murdered in 978. The supposed location of his murder is traditionally on or near the castle mound. Corfe was one of the first English castles to be built in stone, at

840-456: The Battle of Britain featured German air attacks on Channel shipping and ports; despite these early successes against shipping the Germans did not win the air supremacy necessary for Operation Sealion , the projected cross-Channel invasion. The Channel subsequently became the stage for an intensive coastal war, featuring submarines, minesweepers , and Fast Attack Craft . The narrow waters of

924-421: The Dorset Wildlife Trust has two reserves at East Creech and also manages the unique Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve at Kimmeridge . The National Trust also owns the great chalk grassland ridge of Ballard Down to the south of Studland, and manages it as a nature reserve. [REDACTED] Media related to Studland and Godlingston Heath at Wikimedia Commons Isle of Purbeck The Isle of Purbeck

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1008-633: The Glorious Revolution of 1688, while the concentration of excellent harbours in the Western Channel on Britain's south coast made possible the largest amphibious invasion in history, the Normandy Landings in 1944. Channel naval battles include the Battle of the Downs (1639), Battle of Dover (1652), the Battle of Portland (1653) and the Battle of La Hougue (1692). In more peaceful times,

1092-634: The Low Countries . The North Sea reaches much greater depths east of northern Britain. The Channel descends briefly to 180 m (590 ft) in the submerged valley of Hurd's Deep , 48 km (30 mi) west-northwest of Guernsey . There are several major islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast, and the Channel Islands , British Crown Dependencies off

1176-786: The National Trust , are good examples. At around the same time and later some Downs have carpets of yellow Horseshoe Vetch ( Hippocrepis comosa ) and blue Chalk Milkwort ( Polygala calcarea ). In late May the field near Old Harry Rocks has a carpet of yellow Kidney Vetch ( Anthyllis vulneraria ). Blue and white flowers of Sheep's bit ( Jasione montana ) and pink and flowers of Sea Bindweed ( Calystegia soldanella ) lend colour to Studland dunes in June. Both Heath Spotted Orchid ( Dactylorhiza maculata ) and Southern Marsh Orchid ( Dactylorhiza praetermissa ) are frequent on Corfe Common that month, and Harebells ( Campanula rotundifolia ) and Purple Betony ( Stachys officinalis ) flowers add colour to

1260-570: The Neolithic front in southern Europe to the Mesolithic peoples of northern Europe." The Ferriby Boats , Hanson Log Boats and the later Dover Bronze Age Boat could carry a substantial cross-Channel cargo. Diodorus Siculus and Pliny both suggest trade between the rebel Celtic tribes of Armorica and Iron Age Britain flourished. In 55 BC Julius Caesar invaded, claiming that the Britons had aided

1344-487: The Norman Conquest beginning with the Battle of Hastings , while retaining the fiefdom of Normandy for himself and his descendants. In 1204, during the reign of King John , mainland Normandy was taken from England by France under Philip II , while insular Normandy (the Channel Islands ) remained under English control. In 1259, Henry III of England recognised the legality of French possession of mainland Normandy under

1428-800: The North Sea to the Western Atlantic via the Strait of Dover is of geologically recent origin, having formed late in the Pleistocene period. The English Channel first developed as an arm of the Atlantic Ocean during the Pliocene period (5.3-2.6 million years ago) as a result of differential tectonic uplift along pre-existing tectonic weaknesses during the Oligocene and Miocene periods. During this early period,

1512-470: The River Frome and the south side of Poole Harbour . However, in the first half of the 19th century the pack horses were replaced by horse-drawn tramways. With the coming of the railway from Wareham to Swanage, most ball clay was dispatched by rail, often to the Potteries district of Staffordshire . Quarrying still takes place on Purbeck, with both Purbeck Ball Clay and limestones being transported from

1596-730: The Treaty of Paris . His successors, however, often fought to regain control of mainland Normandy. With the rise of William the Conqueror , the North Sea and Channel began to lose some of their importance. The new order oriented most of England and Scandinavia's trade south, toward the Mediterranean and the Orient. Although the British surrendered claims to mainland Normandy and other French possessions in 1801,

1680-484: The Treaty of Paris of 1259 , the surrender of French possessions in 1801, and the belief that the rights of succession to that title are subject to Salic Law which excludes inheritance through female heirs. French Normandy was occupied by English forces during the Hundred Years' War in 1346–1360 and again in 1415–1450. From the reign of Elizabeth I , English foreign policy concentrated on preventing invasion across

1764-581: The Veneti against him the previous year. He was more successful in 54 BC , but Britain was not fully established as part of the Roman Empire until Aulus Plautius 's 43 AD invasion . A brisk and regular trade began between ports in Roman Gaul and those in Britain. This traffic continued until the end of Roman rule in Britain in 410 AD, after which the early Anglo-Saxons left less clear historical records. In

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1848-610: The Ärmelkanal in German, or a direct borrowing , such as Canal de la Mancha in Spanish. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as: The Strait of Dover (French: Pas de Calais ), at the Channel's eastern end, is its narrowest point, while its widest point lies between Lyme Bay and the Gulf of Saint Malo , near its midpoint. Well on

1932-460: The Atlantic. The flooding destroyed the ridge that connected Britain to continental Europe , although a land connection across the southern North Sea would have existed intermittently at later times when periods of glaciation resulted in lowering of sea levels. During interglacial periods (when sea levels were high) between the initial flooding 450,000 years ago until around 180,000 years ago,

2016-524: The Channel by ensuring no major European power controlled the potential Dutch and Flemish invasion ports. Her climb to the pre-eminent sea power of the world began in 1588 as the attempted invasion of the Spanish Armada was defeated by the combination of outstanding naval tactics by the English and the Dutch under command of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham with Sir Francis Drake second in command, and

2100-522: The Channel did not connect to the North Sea, with Britain and Ireland remaining part of continental Europe , linked by an unbroken Weald–Artois anticline , a ridge running between the Dover and Calais regions. During Pleistocene glacial periods this ridge acted as a natural dam holding back a large freshwater pro-glacial lake in the Doggerland region, now submerged under the North Sea . During this period,

2184-512: The Channel for several weeks, but was thwarted following the British naval victory at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759 and was unsuccessful (The last French landing on English soil being in 1690 with a raid on Teignmouth, although the last French raid on British soil was a raid on Fishguard, Wales in 1797). Another significant challenge to British domination of the seas came during the Napoleonic Wars . The Battle of Trafalgar took place off

2268-704: The Channel served as a link joining shared cultures and political structures, particularly the huge Angevin Empire from 1135 to 1217. For nearly a thousand years, the Channel also provided a link between the Modern Celtic regions and languages of Cornwall and Brittany . Brittany was founded by Britons who fled Cornwall and Devon after Anglo-Saxon encroachment. In Brittany, there is a region known as " Cornouaille " (Cornwall) in French and "Kernev" in Breton . In ancient times there

2352-580: The Channel would still have been separated from the North Sea by a landbridge to the north of the Strait of Dover (the Strait of Dover at this time formed part of a estuary fed by the Thames and Scheldt ), restricting interchange of marine fauna between the Channel and the North Sea (except perhaps by occasional overtopping). During the Last Interglacial/Eemian (115–130,000 years ago) the connection between

2436-584: The Common in July. Dorset Heath ( Erica ciliaris ), the county flower , can be found in July and August in large numbers, especially on and around Hartland Moor , in damper parts of the heathland. Bog Asphodel ( Narthecium ossifragum ) gives displays of yellow flowers there in early July. Marsh Gentian ( Gentiana pneumonanthe ) is found less frequently in similar areas from mid August to mid September. A number of Romano-British sites have been discovered and studied on

2520-590: The County of Dorset , defined Purbeck's western boundary as the Luckford Lake stream, which runs south from the Frome . According to writer and broadcaster Ralph Wightman , Purbeck "is only an island if you accept the barren heaths between Arish Mell and Wareham as cutting off this corner of Dorset as effectively as the sea." The most southerly point is St Alban's Head (archaically St. Aldhelm's Head). From 1974 to 2019,

2604-589: The English Channel, with both Grey Seal and Harbour Seal recorded frequently. The Channel is thought to have prevented Neanderthals from colonising Britain during the Last Interglacial/Eemian, though they returned to Britain during the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were lower. The Channel has in historic times been both an easy entry for seafaring people and a key natural defence, halting invading armies while in conjunction with control of

Studland and Godlingston Heath National Nature Reserve - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-482: The Isle of Purbeck, including a villa at Bucknowle Farm near Corfe Castle, excavated between 1976 and 1991. The Kimmeridge shale of the isle was worked extensively during the Roman period, into jewellery, decorative panels and furniture. At the extreme southern tip of Purbeck is St.Aldhelm's Chapel , which is Norman work but built on a pre-Conquest Christian site marked with a circular earthwork and some graves. In 1957,

2772-466: The Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel. The Channel acts as a funnel that amplifies the tidal range from less than a metre at sea in eastern places to more than 6 metres in the Channel Islands , the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula and the north coast of Brittany in monthly spring tides . The time difference of about six hours between high water at

2856-447: The North Sea allowing Britain to blockade the continent. The most significant failed invasion threats came when the Dutch and Belgian ports were held by a major continental power, e.g. from the Spanish Armada in 1588, Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars , and Nazi Germany during World War II . Successful invasions include the Roman conquest of Britain , the Norman Conquest in 1066 and

2940-562: The North Sea and almost all of the British Isles were covered by ice. The lake was fed by meltwater from the Baltic and from the Caledonian and Scandinavian ice sheets that joined to the north, blocking its exit. The sea level was about 120 m (390 ft) lower than it is today. Then, between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago, at least two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods breached

3024-529: The North Sea and the English Channel was fully open as it is today, resulting in Britain being an island during this interval, before lowered sea levels reconnected it to the continent during the Last Glacial Period . From the end of the Last Glacial Period, to the beginning of the Holocene rising sea levels again resulted in the unimpeded connection between the North Sea and the English Channel resuming due to

3108-509: The OS maps as Tumulus . The reserve also contains the mysterious standing stone known as the Agglestone Rock . The reserve is notoriously prone to catching fire during hot, dry spells in summer, and large areas have been successively devastated and regenerated in the past. The area was also used in the run-up to D-Day as a training area for the assault troops and as a bombing and strafing range by

3192-686: The Royal Air Force. The reserve is open to visitors all the year round. By road the reserve can be reached either via the Sandbanks Ferry from Poole and Bournemouth to the north, or via the A351 and B3351 roads from Wareham to the west. There is a mainline rail service by South Western Railway to Wareham station , and during the summer the Swanage Railway steam rail service operates from Wareham to Swanage via Corfe Castle . Local bus services on

3276-583: The Wareham - Swanage - South Haven Point circuit are provided by Wilts & Dorset . There is accommodation and other visitor facilities in Studland village on the edge of the reserve. Natural England has its local base at Slepe Farm near Wareham, and from there also administers the Stoborough Heath NNR and the adjacent Hartland Moor NNR . The RSPB owns and manages a large nature reserve at Arne and

3360-532: The Weald–Artois anticline. These contributed to creating some of the deepest parts of the channel such as Hurd's Deep . The first flood of 450,000 years ago would have lasted for several months, releasing as much as one million cubic metres of water per second. The flood started with large but localised waterfalls over the ridge, which excavated depressions now known as the Fosses Dangeard . The flow eroded

3444-423: The area by road. There are now no functioning quarries of Purbeck Marble . The Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum displays an exhibition about ball clays, mining and the associated narrow gauge railways. The isle has the highest number of species of native and anciently introduced wild flowers of any area of comparable size in Britain. This is largely due to the varied geology. The species most frequently sought

Studland and Godlingston Heath National Nature Reserve - Misplaced Pages Continue

3528-466: The area. The modern Welsh is often given as Môr Udd (the Lord's or Prince's Sea); however, this name originally described both the Channel and the North Sea combined. Anglo-Saxon texts make reference to the sea as Sūð-sǣ (South Sea), but this term fell out of favour, as later English authors followed the same conventions as their Latin and Norman contemporaries. One English name that did persist

3612-658: The beginning of the Viking Age . For the next 250 years the Scandinavian raiders of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark dominated the North Sea, raiding monasteries, homes, and towns along the coast and along the rivers that ran inland. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle they began to settle in Britain in 851. They continued to settle in the British Isles and the continent until around 1050, with some raids recorded along

3696-407: The body of a 13th-century woman was found buried to the north of the chapel, suggesting there may have been a hermitage in the area. In 2000, the whole chapel site was declared a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The precise function of the chapel building is disputed, with suggestions that it may have been a religious retreat, a chantry for the souls of sailors who had drowned off St Aldhelm's Head or even

3780-401: The centre of the Straits of Dover and into the English Channel. It left streamlined islands, longitudinal erosional grooves, and other features characteristic of catastrophic megaflood events, still present on the sea floor and now revealed by high-resolution sonar. Through the scoured channel passed a river, the Channel River , which drained the combined Rhine and Thames westwards to

3864-439: The channel coast of England, including at Wareham, Portland, near Weymouth and along the river Teign in Devon. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Viking leader Rollo (also known as Robert of Normandy). Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks Charles the Simple through the Treaty of St.-Claire-sur-Epte . In exchange for his homage and fealty , Rollo legally gained

3948-430: The cliff quarries either by sea, or using horse carts to transport large blocks to Swanage. Many of England's most famous cathedrals are adorned with Purbeck marble, and much of London was rebuilt in Portland and Purbeck stone after the Great Fire of London . By contrast, the principal ball clay workings were in the area between Corfe Castle and Wareham . Originally the clay was taken by pack horse to wharves on

4032-537: The coast around Worbarrow Bay and the ghost village of Tyneham is owned by the Ministry of Defence , who have used it as a training area since 1943. Lulworth Ranges are part of the Armoured Fighting Vehicles Gunnery School at Lulworth Camp . Tanks and other armoured vehicles are used in this area and shells are fired. Due to safety reasons, right of entry is only given when the army ranges are not in operation. Large red flags are flown and flashing warning lamps on Bindon Hill and St Alban's Head are lit when

4116-407: The coast of France. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is deeply indented, with several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey and Mont-Saint-Michel . The Cotentin Peninsula on the French coast juts out into the Channel, with the wide Bay of the Seine (French: Baie de Seine ) to its east. On the English side there is a small parallel strait , the Solent , between

4200-408: The coast of Spain against a combined French and Spanish fleet and was won by Admiral Horatio Nelson , ending Napoleon 's plans for a cross-Channel invasion and securing British dominance of the seas for over a century. The exceptional strategic importance of the Channel as a tool for blockading was recognised by the First Sea Lord Admiral Fisher in the years before World War I . "Five keys lock up

4284-399: The continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 square kilometres (22,000 square nautical miles; 29,000 square miles). The Channel aided the United Kingdom in becoming a naval superpower, serving as a natural defence to halt attempted invasions, such as in the Napoleonic Wars and in the Second World War . The northern, English coast of the Channel is more populous than

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4368-435: The continental shelf, it has an average depth of about 120 m (390 ft) at its widest; yet averages about 45 m (148 ft) between Dover and Calais , its notable sandbank hazard being Goodwin Sands . Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m (85 ft) across the Broad Fourteens (14 fathoms) where it lies over the southern cusp of the former land bridge between East Anglia and

4452-404: The description suggests the name had recently been adopted. In the sixteenth century, Dutch maps referred to the sea as the Engelse Kanaal (English Channel) and by the 1590s, William Shakespeare used the word Channel in his history plays of Henry VI , suggesting that by that time, the name was popularly understood by English people. By the eighteenth century, the name English Channel

4536-434: The eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance . Amphidromic points are the Bay of Biscay and varying more in precise location in the far south of the North Sea, meaning both those associated eastern coasts repel the tides effectively, leaving the Strait of Dover as every six hours the natural bottleneck short of its consequent gravity-induced repulsion of

4620-414: The end of the war and the project was abandoned. The naval blockade in the Channel and North Sea was one of the decisive factors in the German defeat in 1918. During the Second World War , naval activity in the European theatre was primarily limited to the Atlantic . During the Battle of France in May 1940, the German forces succeeded in capturing both Boulogne and Calais , thereby threatening

4704-454: The following stormy weather. Over the centuries the Royal Navy slowly grew to be the most powerful in the world. The building of the British Empire was possible only because the Royal Navy eventually managed to exercise unquestioned control over the seas around Europe, especially the Channel and the North Sea. During the Seven Years' War , France attempted to launch an invasion of Britain . To achieve this France needed to gain control of

4788-402: The frontier of Switzerland to the English Channel", they reached the coast at the North Sea. Much of the British war effort in Flanders was a bloody but successful strategy to prevent the Germans reaching the Channel coast. At the outset of the war, an attempt was made to block the path of U-boats through the Dover Strait with naval minefields . By February 1915, this had been augmented by

4872-429: The last remaining royalist strongholds in southern England and fell to a siege ending in an assault. In March that year Corfe Castle was '"slighted" (demolished) on Parliament's orders. Owned by the National Trust, the castle is open to the public. It is protected as a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument . A large part of the Isle of Purbeck is within the Dorset National Landscape area. A portion of

4956-423: The line of retreat for the British Expeditionary Force . By a combination of hard fighting and German indecision, the port of Dunkirk was kept open allowing 338,000 Allied troops to be evacuated in Operation Dynamo . More than 11,000 were evacuated from Le Havre during Operation Cycle and a further 192,000 were evacuated from ports further down the coast in Operation Aerial in June 1940. The early stages of

5040-441: The list of national nature reserves in England and is listed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The reserve predominantly consists of internationally important lowland heath but also has a wide range of habitats including sand dune , peat bog , alder and willow carr , freshwater lagoons such as the "Little Sea", and 5 km of sandy beach. All six species of native British reptiles are found here including

5124-430: The monarch of the United Kingdom retains the title Duke of Normandy in respect to the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands (except for Chausey ) are Crown Dependencies of the British Crown . Thus the Loyal toast in the Channel Islands is Le roi, notre Duc ("The King, our Duke"). The British monarch is understood to not be the Duke of Normandy in regards of the French region of Normandy described herein, by virtue of

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5208-408: The most dangerous situation Britain faced in either world war. The Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 was fought to reduce the threat by capturing the submarine bases on the Belgian coast, though it was the introduction of convoys and not capture of the bases that averted defeat. In April 1918 the Dover Patrol carried out the Zeebrugge Raid against the U-boat bases. During 1917, the Dover Barrage

5292-438: The peninsula creating the Purbeck Hills , part of the Southern England Chalk Formation that includes Salisbury Plain , the Dorset Downs and the Isle of Wight . The cliffs here are some of the most spectacular in England, and of great geological interest, both for the rock types and variety of landforms , notably Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door , and the coast is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site because of

5376-409: The power vacuum left by the retreating Romans, the Germanic Angles , Saxons , and Jutes began the next great migration across the North Sea. Having already been used as mercenaries in Britain by the Romans, many people from these tribes crossed during the Migration Period , conquering and perhaps displacing the native Celtic populations. The attack on Lindisfarne in 793 is generally considered

5460-419: The ranges are in use. At such times the entrance gates are locked and wardens patrol the area. Other places of note are: 50°38′15″N 2°03′28″W  /  50.6376°N 2.0579°W  / 50.6376; -2.0579 English Channel The English Channel , also known as the Channel , is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France . It links to

5544-402: The rare and nationally endangered sand lizard and smooth snake . The reserve is a notable stronghold of the rare Dartford warbler which successfully survived in this corner of Dorset when nearly wiped out elsewhere in southern England by prolonged periods of extreme winter cold. The reserve features many prehistoric remains of man's activity in the area pre-dating Roman times, indicated on

5628-413: The retaining ridge, causing the rock dam to fail and releasing lake water into the Atlantic. After multiple episodes of changing sea level, during which the Fosses Dangeard were largely infilled by various layers of sediment, another catastrophic flood some 180,000 years ago carved a large bedrock-floored valley, the Lobourg Channel , some 500 m wide and 25 m deep, from the southern North Sea basin through

5712-406: The sea include Oceanus Gallicus (the Gaulish Ocean) which was used by Isidore of Seville in the sixth century. The term British Sea is still used by speakers of Cornish and Breton , with the sea known to them as Mor Bretannek and Mor Breizh respectively. While it is likely that these names derive from the Latin term, it is possible that they predate the arrival of the Romans in

5796-444: The sinking of Doggerland , with Britain again becoming an island. As a busy shipping lane, the Channel experiences environmental problems following accidents involving ships with toxic cargo and oil spills. Indeed, over 40% of the UK incidents threatening pollution occur in or very near the Channel. One occurrence was the MSC Napoli , which on 18 January 2007 was beached with nearly 1700 tonnes of dangerous cargo in Lyme Bay,

5880-457: The sleeve (French: la manche ) shape of the Channel. Folk etymology has derived it from a Celtic word meaning 'channel' that is also the source of the name for the Minch in Scotland, but this name is not attested before the 17th century, and French and British sources of that time are clear about its etymology. The name in French has been directly adapted in other languages as either a calque , such as Canale della Manica in Italian or

5964-418: The southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busiest shipping area in the world. It is about 560 kilometres (300 nautical miles; 350 statute miles) long and varies in width from 240 km (130 nmi; 150 mi) at its widest to 34 km (18 nmi; 21 mi) at its narrowest in the Strait of Dover . It is the smallest of the shallow seas around

6048-532: The southern part of the Isle of Purbeck and the coastal strip as far as Ringstead Bay in the west, have been designated as National Character Area 136 – South Purbeck by Natural England . To the north are the Dorset Heaths and to the west, the Weymouth Lowlands . The geology of the Isle is complex. It has a discordant coastline along the east and concordant coastline along the south. The northern part

6132-510: The southern, French coast. The major languages spoken in this region are English and French . Roman sources as Oceanus Britannicus (or Mare Britannicum , meaning the Ocean, or the Sea, of the Britons or Britannī ). Variations of this term were used by influential writers such as Ptolemy , and remained popular with British and continental authors well into the modern era. Other Latin names for

6216-599: The southward tide (surge) of the North Sea (equally from the Atlantic). The Channel does not experience, but its existence is necessary to explain the extent of North Sea storm surges , such as necessitate the Thames Barrier , Delta Works , Zuiderzee works ( Afsluitdijk and other dams). In the UK Shipping Forecast the Channel is divided into the following areas, from the east: The full English Channel connecting

6300-565: The territory he and his Viking allies had previously conquered. The name "Normandy" reflects Rollo's Viking (i.e. "Northman") origins. The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and intermarried with the area's inhabitants and became the Normans – a Norman French -speaking mixture of Scandinavians , Hiberno-Norse , Orcadians , Anglo-Danish , and indigenous Franks and Gauls . Rollo's descendant William, Duke of Normandy became king of England in 1066 in

6384-405: The unique geology. In the past, quarrying of limestone was particularly concentrated around the western side of Swanage , the villages of Worth Matravers and Langton Matravers , and the cliffs along the coast between Swanage and St. Aldhelm's Head . The "caves" at Tilly Whim are former quarries, and Dancing Ledge , Seacombe and Winspit are other cliff-edge quarries. Stone was removed from

6468-460: The whole of the Isle of Purbeck lay within the local government district of Purbeck , which was named after it. The district extended significantly further north and west than the traditional boundary of the Isle of Purbeck along the River Frome. Following the abolition of the district on 1 April 2019, the Isle now lies within the Dorset unitary authority area. In terms of natural landscape areas,

6552-614: The world! Singapore, the Cape, Alexandria , Gibraltar, Dover." However, on 25 July 1909 Louis Blériot made the first Channel crossing from Calais to Dover in an aeroplane. Blériot's crossing signalled a change in the function of the Channel as a barrier-moat for England against foreign enemies. Because the Kaiserliche Marine surface fleet could not match the British Grand Fleet, the Germans developed submarine warfare , which

6636-454: Was also a " Domnonia " (Devon) in Brittany as well. In February 1684 , ice formed on the sea in a belt 4.8 km (3.0 mi) wide off the coast of Kent and 3.2 km (2.0 mi) wide on the French side. Remnants of a mesolithic boatyard have been found on the Isle of Wight . Wheat was traded across the Channel about 8,000 years ago. "... Sophisticated social networks linked

6720-536: Was first recorded in Middle English in the 13th century and was borrowed from the Old French word chanel (a variant form of chenel 'canal'). By the middle of the fifteenth century, an Italian map based on Ptolemy 's description named the sea as Britanicus Oceanus nunc Canalites Anglie (Ocean of the Britons but now English Channel). The map is possibly the first recorded use of the term English Channel and

6804-514: Was in common usage in England . Following the Acts of Union 1707 , this was replaced in official maps and documents with British Channel or British Sea for much of the next century. However, the term English Channel remained popular and was finally in official usage by the nineteenth century. The French name la Manche has been used since at least the 17th century. The name is usually said to refer to

6888-486: Was re-sited with improved mines and more effective nets, aided by regular patrols by small warships equipped with powerful searchlights. A German attack on these vessels resulted in the Battle of Dover Strait in 1917 . A much more ambitious attempt to improve the barrage, by installing eight massive concrete towers across the strait was called the Admiralty M-N Scheme but only two towers were nearing completion at

6972-539: Was the Narrow Seas , a collective term for the channel and North Sea . As England (followed by Great Britain and the United Kingdom) claimed sovereignty over the sea, a Royal Navy Admiral was appointed with maintaining duties in the two seas. The office was maintained until 1822, when several European nations (including the United Kingdom) adopted a three-mile (4.8 km) limit to territorial waters. The word channel

7056-530: Was to become a far greater threat to Britain. The Dover Patrol , set up just before the war started, escorted cross-Channel troopships and prevented submarines from sailing in the Channel, obliging them to travel to the Atlantic via the much longer route around Scotland. On land, the German army attempted to capture French Channel ports in the Race to the Sea but although the trenches are often said to have stretched "from

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